Month: January 2025 Page 2 of 5

Saturday Miscellany—1/25/25

On January 25, 2025

In Books, News/Misc., Saturday Miscellany

Robert Burns was born on this date in 1759 and there are celebrations of this throughout the world tonight–I’v never been to one but have been wanting to since the 90s (social anxiety, the gift that keeps on giving). At the very least, find some time tonight yourself to read “A Red, Red Rose,”, “To a Mouse,” or one of his other poems in the closest approximation of a Scottish Brogue while drinking something appropriate. I’ll be entertaining (scarring for life?) my family with such this evening*—join in!

* And I know at least one of you is thinking of asking—no, I will not be putting this on my YouTube channel, I’d end up getting a lifetime ban from reading Ian Rankin or something equally horrible.

Odds ‘n ends about books and reading that caught my eye this week. You’ve probably seen some/most/all of them, but just in case:
bullet Jules Feiffer, award-winning political cartoonist and writer, dies at 95, Jules Feiffer—Author, Illustrator, Cartoonist, and More—Dies at 95 —there are few illustrations from books that I read as a child that I remember as vividly as I Feiffer’s The Phantom Tollbooth drawings. (wasn’t always crazy about his political cartoons, but I could appreciate them)
bullet Print Book Sales Saw a Small Sales Increase in 2024 —Publishers Weekly also breaks down the top sellers of the year, some interesting titles there. (but largely entirely predictable, too)
bullet Mystery Writers of America Announces 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Award Nominations—I recognize so few of these names/titles that I’m a little embarrassed.
bullet The truth about fiction: What distinguishes fiction from nonfiction? The answer to this perennial question relies on how we understand reality itself—if you want to get your metaphysics on today…
bullet How the world fell for ‘romantasy’: Dragon sex is hotter than ever—When I stumbled over this, I was sure that there’d be some snobbery about the sub-genre going on—and you could argue that there is—but it’s a good look at this growing area and an appreciation of it, too.
bullet Men Have Bigger Problems Than Not Reading Novels: For James Folta, What’s Wrong With Men is What’s Wrong With America—you might disagree with a lot of what Folta says here, but his reaction to the whole “Men Don’t Read Novels” idea running around lately is worth chewing on.
bullet Series Release Day for Ninja Heroine Lily Wong—Eldridge’s series gets a new publisher, a fresh look, and hopefully new readers. I was already annoyed with myself for not buying the fourth book yet, and now my covers will be mismatched. And now I have to think about getting the new set, just to appreciate them.
bullet Just Keep Swimming—Peter Hartog/David provides some “writing and author-y updates” and some general sagacity
bullet The Laws—Michael J. Ciaraldi looks at just how unworkable The Three Laws of Robotics really are (sob, sob, sob, I’m sooooo disillusioned)
bullet From The Hard Word, Scott’s Top 10 (Okay, 13) Thrillers and Crime Novels of 2024—some good choices here (and a couple of things I should probably add to my list)
bullet Host Mortem: Cover Reveal and Interview!—I’m going to have to keep my eyes out for this
bullet The Role of AI in Modern Storytelling—this is sure to provoke a thought or two. I’m not entirely convinced that I disagree, as much as I want to.
bullet Great Books With Bad Beginnings
bullet Disappointing Books By Favourite Authors
bullet Gorgeous (Hidden) Book Covers—I know that I have a couple of these on my shelves, but Booktails might have inspired me to go look under all my dustcovers just to be sure. If I don’t post anything for the next few days, you’ll know I succumbed.
bullet Fantasy Bookcase Decor for Your Home Library

A Book-ish Related Podcast episode (or two) you might want to give a listen to:
bullet As Told To Episode 80: Benjamin Dreyer—a nice chat with everyone’s favorite copy editor.

To help talk about backlist titles (and just for fun), What Was I Talking About 10 Years Ago Week?
bullet Angel’s Tip by Alafair Burke
bullet Beautiful Redemption by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
bullet Breach Zone by Myke Cole
bullet Chasing the Prophecy by Brandon Mull
bullet Fiddlehead by Cherie Priest
bullet iZombie, Vol 1: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson, Mike Allred
bullet And I talked about the release of Mr. Kiss and Tell by Rob Thomas and Jennifer Graham—man, I wish these Veronica Mars novels had kept going

This Week’s New Releases that I’m Excited About and/or You’ll Probably See Here Soon:
bullet The Drafter by Kim Harrison—Harrison’s least appreciated (as far as I can see), but my favorite, is out in a new edition.

REPOSTING JUST ‘CUZ: Deep Dark Night by Steph Broadribb: High Stakes Danger for Lori Anderson in the Windy City

By HCNewton

On January 23, 2025

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Steph Broadribb/Stephanie Marland

Deep Dark Night

by Steph Broadribb
Series: Lori Anderson, #4

Kindle Edition, 320 pg.
Orenda Books, 2020

Read: January 16-17, 2020
Grab a Steph Broadribb book from your local indie bookstore!

I’ve always felt an element of fear about the jobs I do. In the right dosage it can help you. It gets your adrenaline firing, makes you think clearer, faster—gets you alert and ready to tackle anything that comes your way. But if the fear builds too much, all that good stuff swings things around; the nerves make you hesitant, jumpy and too cautious. That’s when you start making mistakes. And mistakes, in my world, can be fatal.

After barely getting to take a breath following the events of Deep Dirty Truth, Lori finally gets the chance to work off her debt to FBI Agent Monroe. This puts Lori and JT in Chicago trying to get the mobster Cabressa to take possession of some stolen goods. Once that’s done, a series of dominoes will fall and Monroe will be able to put him away for a very long time.

So he insists, anyway.

Step one involves Lori getting an invite to an incredibly exclusive Poker game, Step two involves giving her a crash course in playing Poker so she seems mostly credible in the game. (this isn’t presented as a comedic segment, but I chuckled at this part of the book—also, I’m jealous, I wish I could learn how to play like this).

Now, every thriller reader knows what will happen next—no plan, no matter how thorough, how well-thought-out no matter who’s involved, will work. If for no other reason than it would produce a dull novel. But also, every thriller reader has heard the line, “no plan survives first contact with the enemy” and knows it to be true. The questions that need to be answered are: how badly will the plan go awry? and How will Lori and JT react to it?

So let me assure you, when this plan is derailed, it’s derailed in a spectacular fashion, providing a lot of danger for our heroes, peril for those around them, and more than enough tension to satisfy a hungry reader. Lori and JT respond appropriately, not perfectly (which would be boring), but they display the stamina, resourcefulness, and tenacity we’ve come to expect from them.

The poker game collected quite the interesting mix of players—sports figures, politicians, as well as shady characters like Cabressa. When things go wrong during the game, it opens things up for a lot of drama and conflicting interests causing trouble for all involved. Suddenly, Lori and JT can’t focus solely on getting Cabressa to fall into Monroe’s trap—they have to worry about survival—their own, and as many others that they can help. Sure, Cabressa is still their target, but there’s a lot they have to go through before they can make him a priority.

I’m not going to get more in-depth than that, I’ll leave it there and say there’s more than enough going on plot-wise to fuel a book at least half again as long as this one. Broadribb has stacked the deck against the pair and it’s great to watch them try to navigate the situation.

The game takes place at the top of a pretty high building in Chicago and the action centers around that location, stories above the ground. In the real world, I’m pretty acrophobic—and occasionally (okay, more than occasionally), a movie can get me to feel the anxiety that heights can bring out in me. I don’t remember ever feeling symptoms while reading a book, but I did here. It’s not like Broadribb focused all that much on the height and risk of falling (it was there, but she didn’t belabor the point), but something about the way that she told the story, flicked that particular switch in my brain. There’s something very disconcerting about sitting in a comfortable seat (on the ground level like a sane person) but feeling like I was standing in a precarious* location several feet off the ground. I’m not promising that anyone else will experience what I did, I assume the rest of humanity is a bit better adjusted than I am, but for me that was an unexpected “bonus” to the book.

* Yeah, fine, my definition of a precarious location applies to perfectly safe—even benign—spots.

I’m a little worried about the long-term health of Lori’s elbows. She uses them so often as weapons, she probably heads back to Florida with at least one of them horribly bruised. I don’t remember this being the case in the previous novels, maybe I just forgot—or maybe she’s just relying on the technique in these circumstances (I remember more than once the narration in a Jack Reacher novel talking about the usefulness of that tactic compared to the use of a fist).

As far as long-term character development goes, Lori and JT start a conversation they’ve needed to have since, well, since we met the two of them about Dakota and why Lori didn’t tell JT about her before she did. This will prove helpful in the future and provide the opportunity for the relationship to grow and change. The two of them have some sort of plan going forward about their careers and daughter, but we’re going to have to come back to find out what they have in mind. Seeing these two deal with each other and their daughter is almost as rewarding to me as the action-hero kind of thing is, and Broadribb’s featuring both sides of Lori like this is a real strength of the series.

For my money, this is the best of the series—she’s got a real handle on these characters by now and knows just how to put them through the wringer in a way that provides real tension and thrills. I got more wrapped up in this than I expected to (and I had pretty high expectations at this point in the series), and it was absolutely worth it. Book five cannot arrive soon enough for me.

If you haven’t met this bounty hunter yet, you need to—either in the pages of this book or the beginning, either would work (but you might as well just buy the set all at once, you won’t be satisfied until you read them all). Deep Dark Night will win Broadribb some new fans and confirm those readers already along for the ride.

4 1/2 Stars

This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, opinions are my own.

WWW Wednesday—January 22, 2025

By HCNewton

On January 22, 2025

In Books, Currently Reading, News/Misc., WWW Wednesday

So, this is the Winteriest week we’ve had here this Winter, and all I want to do is huddle down with a book and a gallon of tea. How about you? Hopefully, it’s a bit more comforatble (although a quick glance at the news suggests that it isn’t).

Now let’s get on to the WWWing.

This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived on Taking on a World of Words—and shown to me by Aurore-Anne-Chehoke at Diary-of-a-black-city-girl.

The Three Ws are:
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Seems easy enough, right? Let’s take a peek at this week’s answers:

What are you currently reading?


I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger	Subculture Vulture: A Memoir in Six Scenes by Moshe Kasher

I don’t know that I fully grasp everything that Enger is up to in this book–but I don’t care because the prose is just great (although it would be nice if I could put it together before the end). This dystopian world feels all too real (even if there’s magical realism lurking around).

Kasher’s second memoir is much funnier than his previous one (shocking that a memoir that ends with a teenager finally getting sober wasn’t a hoot). This is provocative, thoughtful, and entertaining. For example, I never cared about “Rave culture” and am okay with that–but the approx. 90 minutes he spent talking about it was really engaging.

What did you recently finish reading?


Sword & Thistle by S.L. Rowland	The Accidental Joe: The Top-Secret Life of a Celebrity Chef by Tom Straw

Rowland’s cozy fantasy is less cozy than it’s predecessor–but it’s close enough that it shouldn’t bother those who want the coziness, but it should also appeal to those who prefer more “stabby stabby” (to quote someone).

Tom Straw’s first (I think) book under his own name (instead of Richard Castle’s) is a hoot. It’s going to be hard to express how fun this was.

What do you think you’ll read next?


Hit The Ground Running by Kate Ashwin	The Innocent Sleep by Seanan McGuire, read by: Raphael Corkhill

An “offbeat” or “humorous” cyperpunk? Is that allowed? Should be fun to find out.

It is going to be so weird hearing the voices Toby, Tybalt, et. al. in a voice that doesn’t belong to Mary Robinette Kowal. Still I’m looking forward to giving it a shot.

What’s keeping you company as you try to get warm?

The Boys of Riverside by Thomas Fuller: A Football Book for Non-Sports Fans

By HCNewton

On January 22, 2025

In Audiobook, Non-Fiction

The Boys of Riverside:
A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory

by Thomas Fuller

DETAILS:
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Publication Date: August 6, 2024
Format: Unabridged Audiobook
Length: 7 hrs., 35 min. 
Read Date: January 9-10, 2024

How Does The Publisher Describe The Boys of Riverside?

In November 2021, an obscure email from the California Department of Education landed in New York Times reporter, Thomas Fuller’s, inbox. The football team at the California School for the Deaf in Riverside, a state-run school with only 168 high school students, was having an undefeated season. After years of covering war, wildfires, pandemic, and mass shootings, Fuller was captivated by the story of this group of high school boys. It was uplifting. During the gloom of the pandemic, it was a happy story. It was a sports story but not an ordinary one, built on the chemistry between a group of underestimated boys and their superhero advocate coach, Keith Adams, a deaf former athlete himself. The team, and Adams, tackled the many stereotypes and seemed to be succeeding. Fuller packed his bags and drove seven hours to the Riverside campus.

The Boys of Riverside looks back at the historic 2021 and 2022 seasons in which the California School for the Deaf chased history. It follows the personal journeys of their dynamic deaf head coach, and a student who spent the majority of the season sleeping in his father’s car in the Target parking lot. It tells the story of a fiercely committed player who literally played through a broken leg in order not to miss a crucial game, as well as myriad other heart-wrenching and uplifting narratives of players who found common purpose. Through their eyes, Fuller reveals a portrait of high school athletics, inspiring camaraderie, and deafness in America.

Yeah, But You Don’t Like Football…

True. And it’s okay to not be really into the sport and to listen to this. You dislike the sport, do not understand it, etc.—and still get a lot out of the book. Sure, it’ll help if you understand 8-man vs. 11-man football, what some of the positions do, and so on—but really, that’s just the dressing.

This book is primarily focused on human drama—if you can understand what it means to work hard for a goal—and to achieve or falter—you can understand this book’s story. With the challenges these young men face, it makes their work different, it makes the triumphs sweeter, and the slips more devastating.

Really, at the end of the day, your feelings about the game they play are pretty much negligible.

How was the Narration?

Frequently—probably most of the time—it sounded like Fuller was trying to narrate some sort of thriller like Jack Reacher, Jack Ryan, or Jason Bourne (basically anything Scott Brick would narrate). But once I got past that, it was fine. I’m not sure this story needed that feel—but it didn’t hurt anything.

So, what did I think about The Boys of Riverside?

So you don’t come away from this book with just a good sports story. Fuller discusses various aspects of Deaf Culture, schools for the deaf (particularly in California), the connections between football and Deaf teams that have spread throughout all levels of the game, and more.

Then there’s the players and coaches—also weaved into the narrative are some good profiles of different individuals associated with the team. Like any good sports story—from fiction to the Olympics—its the individuals that draw in a reader/viewer. And Fuller tells that part of the story well.

Of course, the main focus is the team and their pursuit of a championship. And Fuller paces that story really well—so much so that even if you know how it ends before you start the book, you’ll be hooked and invested.

This is an engaging and entertaining read—one that’s occasionally educational, too. What’s not to like?

3.5 Stars
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I’m Reading Every Day in February for the American Cancer Society

By HCNewton

On January 22, 2025

In Books, Miscellany, News/Misc.

No one is a fan of cancer. I daresay there’s no one ambivalent toward it.* We’ve all had our lives, the lives of family, friends, acquaintances, coworkers, and even pets devastated by it in one form or another. Fighting cancer, researching better ways to fight it, preventing it–all are laudatory ends. So, I participated in this fundraiser last year on a lark—I’m pretty much going to read every day anyway–let’s see if I can earn some money for a good cause, right?

But this year, it’s personal. Last year, four people in my family dealt with cancer in some significant ways. Three of us seem to have dealt with it successfully—we’re not unscathed, but aside from follow-up tests, we’re pretty much done with it. One member of the family is undergoing treatment now, and we all have high hopes. So it’s not a lark this time, and I’m going to talk more about it than I did last year. (I probably should’ve taken it more seriously last year, but it’s too late to do something about that now).

So please, friends and readers, Donate. Every little bit helps. So, please, chip in. And watch this space as I fill in this calendar (and hopefully, the thermometer).

* As soon as I typed that, I could imagine someone objecting to that characterization. But I’m going to pretend to have faith in humanity and keep the sentence.

2025 Plans and Challenges

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2025

In Books, Calendar Items, Miscellany, News/Misc.

Finally it’s time to stop looking at 2024 (as fun as I hope that is’s been) and to start focusing on 2025.

Too many of my goals and the challenges I set for myself for 2024 were not accomplished. I’m okay with that, actually, because they served their purpose anyway, and/or weren’t that big of a deal. Still, I told myself I was going to scale back this year and only have 3 stated “goals” (you will soon see that this did not work out). Still…

I do have things I want to accomplish here over the next 12 months for a variety of reasons—and listing them like this helped last year (although, you’ll see a lot of echoes here from that post. But most of those echoes are of a “continue doing this” nature). So, here’s what I’m going to shoot for around here in the next 12 months.
Cut down on my Goodreads Want-to-Read list and the unread books that I own (a perennial project, but 2024 was not good for the size of that stack)—at least two of the Book Challenges this year should be a fun way to help.
I’m going to finish my Classic Spenser series and maybe find another Classic to do a project read-through. We’ll see about that. (This is a repeat from the last couple of years, but it’s nagging at me, we’ll put this one down in light pencil)
I’m going to continue to be picky in the Book Tours I participate in. I still like Tours, they expose me to things I wouldn’t normally read—and I’m going to keep doing them. But if I’m picky, it helps me focus on other things.
I was planning on cutting back on the Reading Challenges I was trying, but… Well, I already mentioned that. I’ll talk about those in a minute.
Try to interview more authors (maybe others, too?), and get better at that, too. The Literary Locals series is helping with that. Hopefully that also means more of the HC Chats, too.
I want to continue the Literary Locals, but I think I need to find a new phase of it, something different.
I plan on pressing forward with Grandpappy’s Corner, and hopefully do posts for it more frequently.

2025 Book Challenges

Goodreads Challenge
I lowered this from the last couple of years, although I expect my year-end numbers will be the same. This is mostly an attempt to shift my attention away from the numbers–I honestly don’t care about them, I talk about them just as an indicator of how I spend my time (for myself), although it often comes across as something else. I’m also planning on tackling some more thought-provoking and slower reads this year, so this might help me not care about that. We’ll see how that works.

Read Every Day in February for the American Cancer Society
I talked about this earlier. It’s pretty self-explanatory, really. If you’d like to contribute, please click here.

Reading with Wrigs
I missed completing this one last year, but have done some pre-planning on it and feel better about this year’s.

The 2025 Booktempter’s TBR Challenge

I really appreciate the way this one is put together, and it’s pretty easy—just 1 book a month and my TBR should go down by at least 12, more if I can squeeze in some of the stretch goals. This has been pretty helpful the last three years, and I expect the same this year.

Further Up and Further In
Thanks in part to Ward’s Planet Narnia, but also because I keep finding myself in conversations about Lewis lately, I figured it was time to spend some more time with Jack. For sundry reasons (good and bad), outside of the Chronicles of Narnia, I haven’t really read Lewis this century. It’s time I rectify that by revisiting some old friends and reading things I’ve been meaning to get around to.

25 in ’25
I keep seeing people do this (or earlier versions). I’m tackling it essentially as a way to do more than Booktempter’s TBR Challenge (also to tackle a few I’ve said I’ll read before and haven’t). Gamifying my goals tends to work. It’s like a year-long version of the 20 Books of Summer Challenge (RIP). You will note that the books from Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2025 show up here, I’m really trying to tackle those.

Auditing Challenges
I’m not sure that I want to committ to these, but I saw them on Bookforager’s page, and wanted to give them a shot–they look fun. So I’m going to track them, and if I happen to do well with them, great. If not…oh, well.

(yeah, that’s true with all of these, but I’m sort of calling my shot with the above)
Alphabet Reading Challenge

The idea is pretty easy, I don’t imagine I’ll find a book for them all (that said, come November, if I’m choosing between a MG novel called “The Quest for Clean Underwear” and a bestseller called “Murder Most Foul,” you know I’m going for the Q)

Picture Prompt Book Bingo Challenge for 2025

My brain doesn’t do well with things like this, I end up tying myself in knots interpreting the pictures (too literally, usually). But I’m trying to do things outside of my comfort zone–also, I really did the look. So, we’ll see how I do. (I probably will get my kids to help, their brains do better)

That’s everything I have planned, I can’t wait to see what unplanned things happen around here. Hope you’re around to join in the fun!

Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2025

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2025

In Books, News/Misc.

This week’s topic is, “Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2025. An oldie, but a goodie! And one I can’t wait to see whether I will (or won’t) read these books in 2024… Same disclosure every year: you won’t be subjected to punishment (from me) if you don’t read these. But what are 5 books you really want to tick off your TBR this year?” For the second straight year, I was 4 for 5 from my 2024 list, let’s see how I do in 2025. I own all of these, so that should help–can’t use “no access” as an excuse, and there’s the guilt of these spines glaring at me from my TBR shelves while I’m at my desk.

	The Art of Destiny by Wesley Chu Given how much I loved The Art of Prophecy, I don’t understand why I didn’t pounce on this immediately. Well, no more of that. I’m addressing this one soon. I was hoping in January, but I don’t have enough time. Hopefully February.
	What’s Next: A Backstage Pass to the West Wing, Its Cast and Crew, and Its Enduring Legacy of Service by Melissa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack The West Wing has (I’m talking acutal public service, not conventions, etc.). This book is a combination of reflections on the show and what those associated with it have done in the real world. Whatever the show’s political shortcomings may be, you gotta admire that and want to bask a little in the celebration of it. Hopefully I get to it this year.
	The Bright Sword: A Novel of King Arthur by Lev Grossman
	Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by Jason Pargin
	How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler This just seemed like a lot of fun–and was a book my kids gave me last year. I don’t like to leave gifts unread, so I need to clean that up. Like the Pargin book above, I’ve set out to read this “next week” so many times that it’s ridiculous. The next time that I set that goal, I’m sticking to it.

Do you have any particular books you’re set on getting to this year?

BOOK SPOTLIGHT: Fallen Knight by Ceril N. Domace

By HCNewton

On January 21, 2025

In Book Tour, Fantasy, Fiction

I’m happy to welcome The Write Reads Blog Tour for Ceril N. Domace’s soon-to-be-released Fallen Knight. After checking out this Spotlight, you should go to https://twitter.com/WriteReadsTours feed to see all the great things that are going to be said about the book over the next week.

Book Details:

Title: Fallen Knight by Ceril N. Domace
Genre: Fantasy
Age Category: Adult
Format: eBook
Length: 351 pages
Publication Date: January 24, 2025

About the Book:

Leon Quinn has two goals in life: stay out of the reach of the Templesbane and drink himself unconscious whenever he can afford it.

The first is because the Templesbane wiped out his home and family among the Knights Vigilant when he was a child, destroying everything he knew and loved in one night. The second is to help him sleep when the memories of the first overwhelm him.

But he can’t avoid his past forever. His mercenary work has brought him back to Mezeldwelf, the city he fled to after the downfall of the Knights Vigilant, and to his estranged father just in time to get embroiled in a scheme that threatens the very foundation of the city. A scheme that could see Mezeldwelf, its people, and its gods handed over to the Templesbane.

To protect the city and man that adopted him, Leon will need to confront the ruins of the life he left behind and the horrors that threaten the life he’s cobbled together since then.

Book Links:

Amazon UK ~ Amazon US ~ Amazon CA ~ Goodreads ~ Storygraph

About the Author:

Ceril N Domace is an accountant, animal lover, and dedicated dungeon master.

As a lover of fiction works great and small, Ceril has been reading age-inappropriate stories since her father failed to pull The Silmarillion from her grubby little fingers at age five. As a grown-up accountant, her spreadsheet compiling gives her plenty of time to make plans for a fantastic world that isn’t plagued by balance sheets . . . and also has dragons.

On the rare occasions she manages to free herself from an ever-growing and complex web of TTRPG, Ceril enjoys taking walks and griping that all her hobbies are work in disguise.

Author Links:

Website ~ Bluesky ~ Instagram ~ Facebook

My thanks to The Write Reads for the invitation to participate in this tour and the materials they provided.

MUSIC MONDAY: “What About The Children” by Gary Clark Jr. & Stevie Wonder

By HCNewton

On January 20, 2025

In News/Misc.

The Irresponsible Reader Music Monday logo

Music Monday's originated at The Tattooed Book Geek's fantastic blog and has shown up hither, thither, and yon since then.

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Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property by Mike Lupica: Even Tough-As-Nails Attorneys are Mortal

By HCNewton

On January 20, 2025

In Authors, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller, Robert B. Parker, S-Z, Spenser

This has taken me far too long to get to. But I’m here now.

Robert B. Parker’s Hot Property

by Mike Lupica

DETAILS:
Series: Spenser, #52
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: November 26, 2024
Format: Hardcover
Length: 334 pg.
Read Date: December 3-4, 2024

She closed her eyes again and was still, and I was afraid she’d gone back to sleep. Three tough guys in here with her, as tough as she had ever known, but she had always considered herself to be as tough as we were, even making her way in a mostly man’s world. But now she had found out what all of us found out eventually, that tough was always the one with the gun.

What’s Hot Property About?

Rita Fiore is shot while walking to the gym. It’s serious—no one knows if she’ll make it. Spenser, Hawk, Frank Belson, and Martin Quirk assemble at the hospital to wait for word and begin plotting how they’ll find those responsible.

Quirk and Belson will oversee the official investigation, and Spenser will take on the one that they all anticipate will get results. Hawk will be waiting in the wings for when he’s needed.

There are plenty of people who’d be interested in hurting Rita, sadly—a few dissatisfied clients, and many people that she faced off against in court and who came away hurting. Spenser starts there and then starts looking into her personal life, too.

Both of these angles end up revealing more than Spenser expected. Then someone dies—and Rita’s health remains uncertain. While she and the doctors do what they can to keep her going, Spenser, Hawk, and others will have to make sure she’ll be safe outside the hospital.

Honest Question

Do we know that Quirk and Belson are friends with Rita? I don’t remember them interacting in the books before—but we’re on 52 now, it’d be easy to forget. When she was a Norfolk County D.A., she probably didn’t interact with them much (if at all). And I don’t see how a litigator—particularly a defense lawyer—for the kind of firm she works for has a tendency to befriend Homicide detectives (or vice versa).

Lupica clearly knows his Parker lore, so I should assume that he’s right to portray things this way. But I just don’t remember it, and I can’t see why they would befriend her.

I do like the way this all played out, so I’m not complaining, either. It’s just pointing to a lacuna in my memory and it bugs me.

Susan

Susan always said that the problem with a good idea was that once it got inside your head, it was almost impossible to get it out.

I thought I might have one now.

One in a row.

I thought this was a decent usage of Susan throughout this book—she does a little more than just serve as an excuse for a plot recap and some banter (which even Atkins slipped into, although never as much as Parker did toward the end).

I was disappointed in her early reaction to Rita’s situation—but I should’ve trusted that Lupica wouldn’t leave her as petty (but not insensitive).

Lupica’s Style

“You’re a pretty funny guy,’ he said.

“Yeah,” I said, “but I’m trying to quit.”

Some of the humor lines felt a bit forced, but they still worked. It frequently felt like Spenser was trying to hone his crowd-work before his next stand-up gig, rather than just an inveterate smart-ass.

But that does bring up Lupica’s style as a whole. I’ve seen some people online (and in the comment section here) talk about how he doesn’t match Parker’s (or Atkins’) style. I think this is a good thing—I think he seemed to shoot for Parker’s voice with his Sunny and Stone novels, but here he’s not trying (or he’s doing a really bad job of it, probably the former). I don’t remember the voice in his Spenser debut, Broken Trust.

Instead of trying to mimic, he’s taking the path that Reed Farrel Coleman chose for his Jesse Stone books—he used his own while staying true (more or less) to the characters. Spenser and Hawk banter, Susan and Rita exchange suggestive dialogue with Spenser, Tony Marcus is obnoxious and code switches his diction on a whim, and so on.

Obviously, some people are going to prefer one take over another—I can actually argue both ways (and I think if you look back at what I’ve said about all the post-Parker writers you’ll see me doing that). But for now, I like what Lupica’s doing.

This is where I invite Robert Germaux to demur in the comment section (or in a Guest Post if he has a lot to get off of his chest). 🙂

So, what did I think about Hot Property?

“The dogs bark,” I said, “and the caravan moves on.”

Walsh raised an eyebrow. When I tried to do that, Susan said it looked as if ‘d developed a twitch.

“First Tennyson with you, and now Arab proverbs,” he said. “Are you absolutely certain you’re a private detective?”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve asked myself that exact same question lately,” I said.

While I’m not completely sold on all aspects of this book, I do think it was an improvement over Lupica’s first Spenser novel (and I considered that his strongest Parker-verse work!).

It was an interesting choice to go diving into Rita’s personal life—as well as seeing some of her legal work that didn’t require a certain P.I. to help. It was a look into Rita that we’d never really got before. I don’t know that her creator would’ve made all the same choices with her but the current torch-carrier did right by the character (and Christopher Farnsworth followed up on this well, but that’s for another day).

Lupica had all the requisite twists and turns to keep the reader guessing, the pacing just right, and there were some real sweet moments (and some not so sweet) between characters in ways we don’t typically get to see.

It’s gotta be hard to find new ways to satisfy readers in the 52nd book in a series, without just pumping out replicas of earlier books—but Lupica has done that here, and I’m looking forward to seeing what he brings us later this year.

For readers used to this series or those who are looking for a new one to try, this Hot Property is worth your time and attention—you’ll be glad you gave it a shot.

4 Stars

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